Animal litter having the property of detecting urinary infection in felines

ABSTRACT

An animal litter comprised of a liquid absorbent aggregate impregnated with a litmus agent for indicating a urinary track infection in felines.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/678,240filed Jul. 11, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,480 for ANIMAL CONTROLLITTER and a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 08/686,309filed Jul. 25, 1996, now abandoned for ANIMAL LITTER HAVING THE PROPERTYOF DETECTING URINARY INFECTION IN CATS.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an animal litter in which a liquid absorbentaggregate acts as a carrier of an agent for detecting urinary infectionin felines and other related species.

2. Brief Description of Related Art

Because of the growing number of domestic animals, particularly felines,used as house pets, there is an increasing need for a simple means toinform the pet owner of the presence of urinary infections so thatcurative steps can be taken to avoid serious illness in the animal.

To the extent I am aware, the only procedure available today fordetecting urinary infection in felines is to take the animal to aveterinarian who makes an appropriate test. The test usually involvesthe taking of a urine sample and testing it for the presence ofinfection. Felines are not always cooperative in the sample gatheringprocedure and therefore there is a need for a simple technique fordetermining the presence of urinary infection that avoids the need forobtaining urine samples.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an animal litterthat is impregnated with an agent for indicating the presence ofinfection.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an animallitter containing an agent sensitive to the alkalinity of feline urineto indicate a measure of urinary infection.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an animallitter that enables a pet owner to immediately determine the presence ofa urinary infection without the need to take the animal to aveterinarian.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention there is provided an animal littercomprised of a pH neutral or near neutral liquid absorbent aggregatethat has been treated with an agent to visually indicate the presence ofurinary infection in felines. The presence and the degree of infectionis represented by the degree of alkalinity of the urine. Thus byimpregnating the litter with a litmus-like material, such for example assodium phenolsulfonephthalein, a pet owner can, by observing thecoloration of clumped litter containing the urine, immediately determinewhether or not the pet has a urinary infection. If so, the pet may thenbe taken to a veterinarian for treatment.

The litmus material is available from Merck under such names as PhenolRed, Sodium Gold or Reagent ACS Indicator. The litmus material,available in granule form may be finely ground into a powder and wellmixed with the liquid absorbent aggregate to coat the surfaces of theaggregate granules. Preferably the litmus granules are melted attemperatures about 212 Degrees F to form a liquid which is sprayed uponthe aggregate.

The preferred litter is that described and claimed in co-pendingapplication Ser. No. filed Jul. 11, 1996 for Animal Control Litter.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The animal litter of the present invention is a composition comprised ofa liquid absorbent aggregate impregnated with an agent for detectingurinary tract infection in cats. The agent is a litmus material whichreacts to the alkalinity of the feline urine to change the color of thelitter where the feline has voided to indicate to the pet owner thepresence and degree of a urinary tract infection. The litmus materialpossesses and activity range from pH 6.6 to pH 8.0 as provided by, butnot limited to, sodium phenolsulfonephthalein available from Merck undersuch names an Phenol Red, Sodium Golf or Reagent ACS Indicator.

The litmus agent or material, available in granular form may be finelyground into a powder and well mixed with the liquid absorbent aggregateto coat the surface of the aggregate granules. Preferably the litmusgranules are melted at temperatures of about 212 degrees F. to form aliquid which is sprayed upon the aggregate to coat the surfaces of thegranules.

The litmus coated granules react to the alkalinity pH of the felineurine to change color to indicate the presence and the severity of aurinary tract infection. The multiple color changes related to the pH ofthe urine is as follows:

pH factor of 6.8, color is yellow

pH factor of 7.0, color is pink

pH factor of 7.5, color is red

pH factor of 8.0, color is blood red

All colors indicate the presence of a urinary tract infection. Shouldthe blood red color be observed the pet owner should immediately takesteps to cure the condition. In fact the presence of any of the colorsshould give rise to visit a veterinarian for treatment to the animal.

The preferred litter is that described and claimed in co-pendingapplication Ser. No. filed Jul. 11, 1996 for Animal Control. Thepreferred litter incorporating features of the present inventioncomprises an expanded light weight aggregate, a clumping agent, asurfactant, a pH neutral or near neutral anti-static agent and an odorcontrol agent. The composition is dust free, light weight andbiodegradable and does not bio-accumulate. When the time comes abio-clumped mass is scooped from the dry litter and flushed down thecommode.

The light weight aggregate is selected from, but not limited to, theclass consisting of perlite, vermiculite, herculite, rice hulls andzeolite. Perlite is the preferred aggregate. It may initially beobtained from Harborlite Corporation, 1950 East “W” Ave, Vicksburg,Mich. 49097-0100 in grade (−6+16 millimeters). The perlite is thenexpanded to provide porous surfaces by heating the perlite to 1800degrees F.

The clumping agent is a polymeric viscosity modifier, such as, but notlimited to AgRho DR-2000 available from Rhone-Poulenc, prospect PlainsRoad, Cranbury, N.J. 0851-7600. In order to enable the littercomposition to agglomerate into a mass upon contact with animal urinethe clumping agent is mixed with the litter composition, preferably inan amount ranging from about 1 percent to about 10 percent by weight ofthe litter composition.

The surfactant, preferably, is an alkylphenol ethoxylate sold under thetrade name CHEMPRO S-100 by Chemorse, Ltd. of 4685 Merie Hay Road, DesMoines, Iowa. 50322. The surfactant adds the property of anti-trackingto the composition thus preventing the carrying of portions of thecomposition from the litter box to other areas of the household.

Also included is an antistatic agent. The antistatic agent (antistat) isa non-ionic ester or amine such as glycerol esters of fatty acids. Theamines are commonly ethoxylated tertiary amines. Dehydrate 20, 21 and 22from Henkel 300 Brookside Ave., Ambler, Pa. 19002 are antistats thatfall into these categories. The general mechanism of antistats is thatof migration to the surface of the aggregate and the subsequenthydrophilic attraction of a thin film of moisture thereon. Thisincreases the surface conductivity, thereby lowering the resistivity andtracking due to static electricity.

The odor control agent is proprietary to the supplier who maintains itas a trade secret. It is available under the tradename D-ODOR from EnvioCare America, Inc. having a mailing address of P.O. Box 1284, Ennis,Tex. 75120-1284. The odor control agent ranges in color from yellow togray to white. It is available scent free as well as with various odormask combinations including but not limited to a fresh baby powderscent, an industrial peppermint scent and a citrus scent. The odorcontrol agent performs the function of odor elimination by blocking odorproducing oxidation of decomposing organic matter and by complexingairborne odor molecules. It performs the function of odor elimination,not as a coverup, but in the prevention of the formation of theammonical odors.

A formulation of the animal control litter of the present invention areas follows:

89.1 percent +/− 5.0 percent by weight of expanded aggregate 00.4percent +/− 0.4 percent by weight of odor control agent 07.0 percent +/−4.0 percent by weight of clumping agent 03.0 percent +/− 2.5 percent byweight of surfactant 00.5 percent +/− 0.4 percent by weight of litmusagent 00.5 percent +/− 0.4 percent by weight of antistat

A preferred composition is as follows:

89.1 percent by weight of expanded aggregate

00.4 percent by weight of D-Odor

07.0 percent by weight of clumping agent

03.0 percent by weight of surfactant

00.5 percent by weight of sodium phenolsulfonephthalein

00.5 percent by weight of Dehydrate 20,21 or 22

The composition is prepared by mixing the above components in sufficientquantity to make 100 percent in apparatus which causes the odor controlagent, the surfactant and the clumping agent to enter and to fill thepores in the expanded aggregate. The apparatus provides multiple foldsper revolution in the mixing. A suitable apparatus is a Continental RotoMixer, Model V5, drum type roto. It rotates at 4 RPM. Every revolutionprovided 6 folds in the mixing action to assure that each particle ofexpanded aggregate is unformly coated.

The indication (litmus) solution is prepared by dissolving the properamount of the indicator in a proprietary solvent mixture with mechanicalshear. After dissolution is complete, the pH of the solution is adjustedso as to ensure that the resulting solution exhibits the lower range ofthe indicator. This solution, when applied to the feline litter, resultsin a yellow tinted material.

The compensation is packaged or shipment in sealed bags which have beenplaced in cardboard shipping containers or pails so that the vibrationencountered to shipping do not cause the components to separate or todry out any component.

Now that the invention has been described, modifications will occur tothose skilled in the art and it is intended to cover such modificationswhich fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. Animal litter comprised of a substantially pHneutral liquid absorbent aggregate impregnated with a litmus agent toindicate the presence of urinary tract infection in felines and otherrelated species, in which the component parts are present in thefollowing amounts. 89.1 percent+/−5.0 percent by weight of expandedaggregate; 00.4 percent+/−0.3 percent by weight of odor control agent;07.0 percent+/−4.0 percent by weight of clumping agent; 03.0percent+/−2.5 percent by weight of surfactant; 00.5 percent+/−0.4percent by weight of litmus agent; 00.5 percent+/−0.4 percent by weightof antistat.
 2. The animal litter of claim 1 in which the aggregate isan expanded aggregate selected from the class consisting of perlite,vermiculite, herculite, rice hulls and zeolite.
 3. Animal littercomprised of a substantially pH neutral liquid absorbent aggregateimpregnated with a litmus agent to indicate the presence of urinarytract infection in felines and other related species and in which theodor control agent is D-ODOR, the surfactant is an alkylphenolethoxylate, the clumping agent is AgRho DR-2000 and the litmus materialis a sodium phenolsulfonephthalein.
 4. The animal litter of claim 2 inwhich the aggregate is substantially pH neutral and requires no inertcarrier of ph neutralizing agent to maintain the animal litter's phindicating properties.